Today’s Highlights:
Constellations, by Nick Payne, directed by Michael Longhurst, featuring a rotating cast: Sheila Atim and Ivanno Jeremiah … Peter Capaldi and Zoë Wanamaker … Omari Douglas and Russell Tovey … and Anna Maxwell Martin and Chris O’Dowd, begins live performances at London’s Vaudeville Theatre.
A Thousand Ways (Part Two): An Encounter, by 600 Highwaymen, written & created by Abigail Browde & Michael Silverstone, opens in person at Off-Broadway’s Public Theater.
Shoshana Bean in concert at 3:30 PM ET outdoors at Central Park’s Tavern on the Green (also June 9).
Untold Stories of Broadway Live! The Bernard Jacob Theatre Experience Broadway theatre tour, hosted by Jennifer Ashley Tepper, livestreams at 8 PM ET here. This is a one-time event and will not be repeated.
Songs for a New World virtual benefit production, by Jason Robert Brown, directed by Paul Daigneault, featuring Rashed Al Nuaimi, Laura Marie Duncan, Jennifer Ellis, Dwayne P. Mitchell, Davron S. Monroe, Mikayla Myers, Rebekah Rae Robles, Alexander Tan, and Victor Carrillo Tracey, concludes streaming at Boston’s Speakeasy Stage Company.
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Video: Jim Caruso’s Cast Party, with special guests Kristin Chenoweth, Ryan Silverman, and participants from Kristin’s Broadway Bootcamp – Ara Enriquez, Finn Douglas, Genevieve Reineke, Holly Connor, Isabella Rose Sky, Joel Crump, and Riordan Banks. (1:18:45)
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2021 Theatre Women Awards winners:
* Estelle Parson (Lifetime Achievement)
* Stephanie Berry (Lee Reynolds Award)
* Taylor Reynolds (Lucille Lortel Award)
* Meghan Finn (Lucille Lortel Visionary Award)
* Cookie Jordan (Ruth Morley Design Award)
* Sheilah Rae (LPTW Special Award)
* Mei Ann Teo (Josephine Abady Award)
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A revival of Bob Fosse’s Dancin’ is aiming for a Broadway return in the 2022-23 season, to be directed by original Broadway cast member Wayne Cilento.
The production will follow an as-yet-to-be-announced out of town production.
A contemporary celebration of Fosse himself, in the same way the original production served as a tribute to dance as an art form.
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Video: The Show Must Go On, a FREE benefit concert celebrating London theatre, continues here. It’s quite fabulous. (2:36:35)
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The Ojai Playwrights Conference presents Connection on Sat. Jun 12 at 5 PM PT/8 PM ET.
Luis Alfaro, Jon Robin Baitz, Father Greg Boyle, Bill Cain, Culture Clash, Stephen Adly Guirgis, Danai Gurira, Samuel D. Hunter, David Henry Hwang, Julia Izumi, James Morrison, Seamus Morrison, Jeanine Tesori, and Charlayne Woodard.
Brian Cox, Culture Clash, Eileen Galindo, Danai Gurira, Tzi Ma, James & Seamus Morrison, Rose Portillo, Samantha Quan, John C. Reilly, Israel López Reyes, Nikkole Salter, Jimmy Smits, Phillipa Soo, and Charlayne Woodard
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Cambridge’s A.R.T. has announced its 2021-22 season:
The Arboretum Experience (begins Aug. 21), world premiere by Kirsten Greenidge, Tim Hall, Jill Johnson, and Summer L. Williams. Visitors are invited to experience the natural beauty of the Arnold Arboretum on an outdoor, self-guided journey.
Ayodele Casel: Chasing Magic (Sept.-Oct.), directed by Torya Beard offering tap dance, music, and the joy of connection.
Macbeth in Stride (Oct. – Nov.) world premiere created & performed by Whitney White, directed by Tyler Dobrowsky & Taibi Magar. White and the live band examine what it means to be an ambitious Black woman through the lens of Shakespeare’s character.
Phoenix Rising (Nov. 19-21), by Silkroad Ensemble, featuring Silkroad Ensemble and Rhiannon Giddens. A collective grieving song and a clarion call, uniting audiences through varied cultural experiences to create a more peaceful and just world as we emerge from a long and stunning upheaval.
Wild In Concert (Dec. dates TBA), world premiere by V, Justin Tranter, Caroline Pennell, and V, with contributions by Idina Menzel, directed by Diane Paulus. A new musical fable about a single mother struggling to hold on to her family farm and connect with her teenage daughter, whose determination to save the planet endows her and her friends with powers they never knew they had.
Ocean Filibuster (Feb.-Mar., 2022), world premiere by PearlDamour, Lisa D’Amour & Sxip Shirey directed by Katie Pearl, starring Jennifer Kidwell. Inside the Senate chamber of a global governing body, Mar. Majority introduces and “End of the Ocean Bill,” designed to shrink Earth’s oceans into a more manageable (and marketable) collection of inland seas… and so begins an epic Human-Ocean showdown.
1776 (May-July), directed by Jeffrey L. Page & Diane Paulus, with choreography by Page.
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Stomp will resume performances on July 20 at the Orpheum Theatre.
Casting TBA.
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A reading of Ben Jonson’s Volpone, or The Fox will livestream Mon. June 14 at 7:30 PM ET at Off-Broadway’s Red Bull Theater, adapted & directed by Jesser Berger.
André De Shields (Volpone) and Hamish Linklater (Mosca), Peter Francis James, Roberta Maxwell, Kristine Nielsen, and Mary Testa, with Jordan Boatman, Sofia Cheyenne, Franchelle Stewart Dorn, Clifton Duncan, Amy Jo Jackson, and Sam Morales.
Meet Volpone, the rich old magnifico, whose ingenious schemes and farcical scams dupe his wealthy friends into showering him with gold. This feast of extraordinary language and outrageous characters is a merciless satire that delightfully skewers the selfish manipulations of hypocrites – without excusing the greed and gullibility of their victims. Against scoundrels cloaked in proprietary and legal dodgins, the virtuous are practically defenseless – and even the judge is on the make. Is Volpone the slry fox…or the outfoxed?
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Enid Graham’s Do Not Go, My Love will stream Sat. June 12 at 8 PM ET at NY’s Hudson Stage, directed by Robert Sella.
Maryann Plunkett and Hansel Tan.
A call to a government financial helpline turns into more, as two strangers reach through the bureaucracy and technology to find their common humanity and moments of grace and connection.
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Springsteen on Broadway will return to Broadway June 26 – Sept. 4 at the St. James Theatre.
A unique evening with Bruce, his guitar, a piano, and his very personal stories.
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Off-Broadway’s MCC Theater has announced its 2021-22 season:
Nollywood Dreams (October), by Jocelyn Bioh, directed by Saheen Ali. Set in the 1990s Nigeria, the play follows 2 friends who find themselves immersed in the Nollywood scene, including auditions for the country’s hottest director, its biggest heartthrob, and a former leading lady.
Space Dogs (Winter 2022), written & performed by nick Blaemire. The piece is inspired by Laika, a stray dog launched into orbit as part of the Soviet space program.
Here She Is Boys (April), by Ana Nogueira, directed by Mike Donahue. The play takes place largely outside the stage door of the Idina Menzel-led musical If/Then, as 2 friends navigate the wrinkles that put their decades-long relationship to the test.
soft (May), by Donja R. Love, directed by Whitney White. The play centers on a boarding school teacher struggling to keep his Black and Brown students safe from systemic perils after one takes his own life.
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The world premiere of Miles Malleson’s 1933 play Yours Unfaithfully continues through June 13 at Off-Broadway’s Mint Theatre, directed by Jonathan Bank.
Todd Cerveris, Mikaela Izquierdo, Elisabeth Gray, Stephen Schnetzer, and Max von Essen.
A refined, rueful and often shrewd comedy about polyamory, written decades before open relationships were quite so openly discussed.
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Larry Kirwan, Jason Howland, Christina Anderson, Marcus Gardley, Craig Lucas Nathan Tysen & Masi Asare’s Paradise Square will begin previews Feb. 22 2022 and open Mar. 20 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, directed by Moisés Kaufman, with choreography by Bill T. Jones, and musical staging by Graciela Daniele.
The musical features original songs as well as a re-imagining of the songs of Stephen Foster.
Joaquina Kalukango (Nelly Freeman), Chilina Kennedy, John Dossett, Sidney DuPont, A.J. Shively, Nathanial Stampley, Gabrielle McClinton, Jacob Fishel, and Kevin Dennis, with Karen Burthwright, Kennedy Caughell, Dwayne Clark, Garrett Coleman, Colin Cunliffe, Chloe Davis, Bernard Dotson, Jamal Christopher Douglas, Sam Edgerly, Shiloh Goodin, Jacobi Hall, Sean Jenness, Jay McKenzie, Ben Michael, Jason Oremus, Eilis Quinn, Sara Sheperd, Lael van Keuren, Sir Brock Warren, Hailee Kaleem Wright, and more TBA.
Set in Manhattan’s Five Points neighborhood during the Civil War, the musical follows the inhabitants of a local saloon – including the Black woman who owns it, a conflicted newly arrived Irish immigrant, a runaway slave, and a once-great songwriter.
The pre-Broadway production will run Nov. 2 – Dec. 5 at Chicago’s Nederlander Theatre.
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Off-Broadway’s Theatre Resources Unlimited will stream its New Play Series:
JUNE 20 (3 PM ET): Tiny Empty Nest, by David Beardsley, directed by Jesica Garrou. It’s becoming clear that Ben and Claire Booker’s relationship needs a jump start.
JUNE 27 (3 PM ET): Golden Wings, by Coolidge Harris II, directed by Rain Pryor. The play examines the complexities of love, loyalty, and the sanctity of marriage.
JULY 11 (3 PM ET): No One Cries for the Blacksmith, by Lloyd Khaner, directed by Tonya Pinkins. A NYC taxi cab driver and his confident marketing executive passenger encounter the best, worst and possibly the last day of their lives.
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The NBC holiday production (airing Dec. 2) of “Annie Live” will star Taraji P. Henson as Miss Hannigan.
Additional casting TBA.
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The world premiere of April De Angelis’ Extinct will stream July 13-18 at the Theatre Royal Stratford East, directed by Kirsty Housley. Casting TBA.
Kiran Landa
A woman stands alone on stage. She has one hour to change our future. One hour to avert a catastrophe. She’ll give everything she has.